Speed Dating
by gocubsgo17
Summary: Sweets forces Booth to go. Angela drags Brennan to it. Read what happens when Booth and Brennan discover each other at the same speed dating event. Post 100th episode, Pre "Witch in the Wardrobe". Now multichapt
1. Chapter 1

"Ange, do I have to go? This seems like a waste of my time. I have plenty of remains down in bone storage to identify. My time would be better suited there."

"No way, sweetie. I'm not letting you get out of this."

Angela and Brennan were in Brennan's apartment, both dressed up for a night out. Brennan was dragging herself to get ready, only being helped along by Angela when her friend noticed that she was lacking in the jewelry or make-up department.

Somehow, Brennan had let Angela talk her into going to a speed dating event. Angela was doing everything she could to find a man for both her and her friend. Angela, along with everyone else who worked at the Jeffersonian, knew Brennan belonged with a certain FBI agent, but since neither Brennan nor Booth were about to admit it, Angela was getting her friend out into the dating world in order to make her realize her feelings for the very Special Agent.

After a lot of persuasion and three outfit changes, both women were finally ready to make their way to Adolph's Italian Bistro, where the event was being held.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth couldn't decide what to wear. Jeans and a t-shirt? No, if he was going to make an impression, maybe he should stick to his work attire. Maybe lose the tie…no, he decided against that too. The rebellious tie was part of the work clothing package.

After Booth had laid his heart and soul on the line for a chance at a relationship with Brennan, Sweets had suggested getting back out on the market as soon as possible to help get over the pain just a tad bit faster. He prescribed some speed dating.

Before meeting Daisy, Lance had frequented speed dating events, hoping to avoid the awkwardness of meeting someone random at a bar. It hadn't worked, obviously, but he had gained some friendships that made him more open to different people. Sweets was hoping it would be the same for Booth, perhaps even more successful, since Booth could connect with practically anyone he met.

Booth was nervous. He wasn't exactly sure what he was getting himself into, or more accurately, what Sweets was getting him into. He had let the psychologist talk him into it and sign him up. Booth was more of a conventional meet-a-girl-at-a-bar-and-take-it-from-there kind of guy.

He stayed in his suit and decided to get something to eat instead. Booth knew he probably wouldn't be eating, despite the fact he was going to a restaurant. He made his way into his kitchen and picked up an apple. Glancing at the clock, he realized he was going to be late if he didn't leave now, so Booth grabbed his jacket and keys and hurried out the door to Adolph's.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan and Angela walked into Adolph's and made their way to the large banquet room, where the speed dating was about to start. They signed in, were each assigned to separate tables across the room from each other. Angela with number 6 and Brennan number 23. Angela was hoping they'd be right next to each other. She wanted to see Brennan in a different light than she saw on a normal basis. Brennan, on the other hand, was secretly happy. She was planning on making a swift exit, catching a cab home and only notifying Angela of where she had gone once she was safely in her apartment.

The men who were to rotate around the tables were being held in another banquet room next to where all of the women were being seated. Booth stood nervously among the other men. He wasn't sure what to make of the company he was in. These guys all reminded him of Sweets: Awkward, confused, and just overall…nerdy.

The organizers of the event announced that they could go find the table numbers they were assigned and would need to switch as soon as they heard the bell ring. Booth spent the first few seconds looking for table 6. He saw the sign and made his way to the table.

Booth practically choked as he saw who was sitting at the table. "Angela? You have got to be kidding me."

"Oh, believe me, sweetie," she said as she got over her shock of seeing him, "I'm going to take advantage of this little date."

He ignored her. "Why are you here?" Booth didn't expect to see a woman as beautiful and outgoing as Angela at a speed dating event.

"I'm sick of going to bars to hook up with a drunk guy who ends up taking me back to his mom's place for sex. Can I ask you the same thing? Did you just come from the Hoover or something? Why are you still wearing what you wore for work?"

"Sweets made me come. And I thought I look better in suits than in jeans and crummy t-shirt."

Angela chuckled. "Trust me, Booth, you could make a toga look good," she told him as she practically disrobed him with her eyes. It was not the first time she had done that. It was a daily occurrence at work.

The artist debated telling her 'date' about who else was here. She knew these events were scheduled so there was enough time for every guy to meet every girl. He'd discover his partner eventually. She decided to leave it up to fate as the bell rang. Booth bid Angela goodbye and moved on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan was having trouble. Every guy she talked to seemed annoyed.

She honestly looked for a decent way out, but Angela was sitting near the only exit. Guy after guy would come and sit at the table, introduce himself and then ask about her. So she talked about herself. Some people recognized her from her novels and they were confused as to why such a famous novelist would be at a function like this. Some people had never heard of her. Brennan preferred that. She didn't want people who fussed over her or asked for several autographs.

But she talked the ears off of every guy that sat at her table. And the more she talked, the more theses guys seemed to become aggravated.

Brennan stayed on the subject of Booth for most of her one-sided conversations. She talked about the cases they solved, going to the diner, both of them taking Parker to the zoo, among other things.

One guy finally asked, "So why are you here?"

"Excuse me?" Brennan asked the guy named Bryant. She was confused, but apparently, so was he.

"You're in love with this Booth guy. So why are you here?" His remark could've been taken out of context, but he meant it in the nicest way possible.

"I'm here because…" Brennan couldn't come up with a reason besides she had been forced into it by Angela.

Bryant smiled at her. The bell rang and it was time to move on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth kindly listened to the girl at table 22 go on and on about her nephews and her cats.

_Why am I doing this to myself? _He thought, _I should call Bones. See if she wants some takeout later. _

"What's on your mind, sugarplum?" The woman he had been talking to asked. Her name was Rosie and she claimed she could read minds.

"Huh? Oh sorry, what were you saying?"

"I may not have had many boyfriends, but a girl can tell when a guy has someone else on his mind," Rosie said knowingly.

He laughed it off. "No, no one else. Just thinking about the horrible amount of paperwork I have waiting for me after this." _And Bones at her apartment waiting for me and a bag of Wong Fu's take out._

"Hmmm," Rosie rolled her eyes and took a drink of the wine in front of her. "So what do you do for a living?"

"Work for the FBI. Solve crimes," he kept the conversation short and sweet. Booth was planning throttle Sweets for even suggesting this. _This was the worst idea ever,_ he thought.

"Oh wow, like what kind of crimes?"

"Murders. My partner's a forensic anthropologist so she looks at the bodies and I take out the bad guys."

"Forensic anthropologist? Like in those books? Is Temperance Brennan your partner? I could definitely see you being Andy. I heard Dr. Brennan's here. I doubt it, a woman that beautiful wouldn't need to come to an event like this," Rosie rambled on.

Upon hearing that Bones was likely in the same room as him, Booth perked up and scanned the room for any sign of his partner. Rosie watched him.

"Ahh, so she's the girl you're all hung up on. I don't blame you. But what I don't understand is why you just don't go for it? She's pretty, you're incredibly handsome, so what's the problem? You two would have the _most _gorgeous children on this earth."

Booth heard everything Rosie had said but was still looking for Brennan. Half of the women in the room had their backs to him but the event was almost over and he still hadn't come to her table. He looked down the line at the tables he would be coming to in the next few minutes. The bell rang and startled Booth. He looked back at Rosie. They smiled at each other and Booth stood up to move on. He became even more nervous than he had been when he arrived. Would seeing Bones in this setting be awkward? Or just what he needed to convince Brennan to take a chance on them?

He moved to the next table and avoided looking at the woman in front of him. Booth took a seat, heaved a deep breath and looked up.

"Booth?" Brennan heart practically stopped, or it would've if it were physically possible, "What are you doing here?"

"Uh…just a little experiment. What are you doing here?"

"Angela," she pointed back to her friend who was a few glasses of wine in and was almost hanging on the man.

"I already talked to her and she didn't say you were here!" Booth said, annoyed that Angela hid the fact that the love of his life was at the same event.

"Oh," Brennan wasn't sure how to respond after that.

"Bones, do you really think you need to go to these lame things?" Booth asked.

Brennan shrugged. She downed her wine and waved to a waiter to bring her another.

"You don't need to go to these either," Brennan told him.

Booth shrugged this time. "Well, Sweets made me come. He said it'd help me get over," he stopped short and looked up at his partner.

"Me. Get over me," she finished for him. Booth nodded slowly and looked away.

"I don't want to though," he told her, "I'll wait for you, you know. I'll wait 'til you're ready."

"Ready for what?" she half yelled.

"To realize that love is more than just chemicals."

"But your type of love isn't a biological process!"

The bell rang, and the partners watched people get up to switch tables. Booth stayed put.

"Booth, come on, you have to go. It's this man's turn to talk to me," Brennan gestured to a man standing next to her table waiting for Booth to get up.

"Seriously, man, you know the rules, move it!" The stranger said.

Booth took out his badge and coincidentally flashed his gun. "FBI, move along."

The stranger huffed and took Booth's spot at the next table.

"Booth, that was impolite! We can talk after!"

He shook his head. "I need to know: why, besides the fact that you're a scientist, can't we give this a shot?"

Brennan hadn't been expecting that. She finished off her glass of wine again, took a deep breath and said, "Because I don't know how to change. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to leave me. You are the one constant I have in my life. I know you won't leave if we keep things the way they have been. If we stop working together and try…us…There is nothing stopping you from leaving. The minute I fall for someone or even realize I care for them more than I should, they leave. I need you and I need Parker. I need you two in my life. I can't mess up what we already have."

"What do we already have? Nothing! Bones, we work together. That's it. Parker loves you. So do I. And I need more than just us working together!"

Brennan's eyes began to fill with tears again.

"If I knew for sure you won't leave, if you give me some sort of hard evidence that you won't leave…I'll agree to a relationship," Brennan whispered, a hint of a hopeful smile on her lips.

The bell rang again and the next man who attempted to take Booth's seat approached. Booth kept his eyes on Brennan and he pulled his badge and gun out, slamming them both on the table. The guy took the hint and moved around to the table on the other side.

Brennan smiled a bit wider and Booth returned the grin.

"Marry me." He casually leaned back in his chair and waited for her answer.

"What?"

"You want proof that I won't leave. Marry me. Then, even if I do try to leave, which I never will by the way, you can tie me up in all sorts of legal crap and I'll never escape you. Marry me."

"No. Are you serious?" Brennan couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I am. I don't joke about marriage. I wanted to do right by Parker. Rebecca refused. That wasn't my fault, but I will blame myself for the rest of my life if we don't try to make things work."

"You know I don't believe in marriage," Brennan reminded him. Her heart was pumping faster than ever. She was scared to hurt her best friend. She would do anything for him, except maybe…

"I know you don't. But it's about evidence. For me, a God-fearing man, marriage is one of the sacraments I refuse to take for granted. There's your evidence."

"My evidence is that you're religious? All religions, including yours, are impractical," Brennan reasoned with him.

Booth looked dumbfounded. "You're disputing my evidence?"

Brennan didn't respond. She knew it was indisputable evidence. He believed in his God as she believed in science. Brennan knew there was no way she could deny his evidence. Booth had proved to her that he wasn't going anywhere, he staked part of his religion on it, something incredibly important to him.

"So are you going to marry me or not?" Booth asked. He felt his heart pound. The agony of waiting was worse than when he had waited to get the approval for the final kill shot before leaving Kosovo to go home. He had never felt this anxious.

"Not yet. We haven't even gone on our first date yet. Unless you count this one."


	2. Chapter 2

"Let's get out of here. I want pie," Booth demanded. Brennan smiled back at him.

They both finished off their drinks in a hurry and stuffed their arms in their jackets. Linking arms, Booth and Brennan rushed out of the banquet room, catching the eyes of everyone in the room, including Angela.

"Sweetie? Where are you going?" Angela called after her.

Brennan ignored her friend and turned to Booth. "Should I say bye to Ange?"

Booth shook his head. "Nope. You'll see her on Monday. She'll actually probably call you right…about…now."

Like magic, Brennan's phone rang and the caller ID screen had Angela's name on it. Brennan flipped it open to answer the call. She let Angela speak first.

"Yes, Ange, I left with Booth…No, there's no case…Well I didn't meet anyone interesting at the event…No, Angela, don't call Hodgins in your condition. Go home and go to bed…No, Dr. Hodgins is not in the lab at this moment…Angela, I'm sure Dr. Hodgins wouldn't appreciate a late night intoxicated rendezvous…Okay, bye Angela."

Booth laughed at the conversation. "So how many glasses of wine did Angela have tonight?"

Brennan laughed too. "Usually, after three glasses, she switches to martinis or jungle juice. I'm still not sure why it's called jungle juice…" Brennan trailed off in thought.

He smiled at her as they walked to his car. Booth opened the door for her and helped her into the SUV. They made their way to the diner in silence, their emotions written all over their faces. Booth was over the moon ecstatic while Brennan was delighted but skeptical. She was worried she spoke too soon or would hurt him before they even got their chance. Booth noticed her lack of happiness but decided to leave that talk for later when they were alone.

They had a normal visit to the diner, leaving the lovey-dovey stuff until they were alone in one of their apartments.

"My place or yours," Booth asked without making it sound too suggestive. They had agreed to talk out what they wanted their relationship to be.

"Mine's closer," Brennan pointed out. Booth nodded and they were soon on their way to Brennan's apartment. When they arrived, Brennan had trouble putting her key in the lock. She suddenly became extremely nervous and could feel her heart pounding faster than it ever had before. _I can't mess this up. I can't lose him, _she thought.

"Hey, you got it?" Booth asked from behind her. Brennan nodded but kept fumbling with the key. He placed a hand on hers and helped her unlock the door. Booth gave her a gentle smile. Brennan hardly returned the gesture and walked into her apartment. She made a beeline for the fridge and grabbed two beers, handing one to Booth. Booth sat down on the couch and took off the cap. He offered to take the cap off of hers and she obliged. This all occurred in silence, neither of them knew what to say or who should talk first. She sat next to him on the couch, their legs and arms constantly grazing each other.

"Bren, I…" Booth began, using his nickname for her from his coma. He only called her that in his head, when he was thinking about her or wanted to call her or watched her work over a set of remains. She looked at him, waiting for him to finish.

"I want this to work out. I need you in my life. I don't know what to do without you. Just tell me how you want this to work and I'll do it. Just don't get scared on me again."

"Booth, I think we just need to take this slow. I just don't think I could handle being left by someone I love again. I need stability in my life and you and my work with the Jeffersonian give me that. I'm just afraid I'll mess everything up again." Her voice was a whisper and she kept her eyes on the condensating beer bottle in her hands.

Booth put his hand on her forearm, prompting Brennan to look up at him. She had tears in her eyes but she was smiling.

"I love you, Bren. I…I'm not going anywhere." He grabbed a free hand and held it tight. She set her beer bottle down on the coffee table and leaned closer to him. Booth set his bottle next to hers and pulled her face to his. He wanted to memorize her face, not that he didn't know how blue her eyes were or how pink her lips were. He wanted to remember this moment for the rest of his life. The moment she said yes to them, that's what he wanted to remember fifty years later.

Brennan was the one who initiated the kiss. Booth was surprised but he wasn't about to stop her. He had been waiting for a moment like this since their last real kiss outside that pool bar. He didn't count those steamboats in her office in front of Caroline. It was contrived and it hadn't felt real, though he didn't mind that he got to feel her smooth lips on his once again. He wanted to count the kiss outside of the Hoover building but that hadn't felt right. She was confused and he forced it upon her. He didn't count it because she didn't respond like he had hoped. That night, she was supposed to say that she wanted those fifty years, that she wanted to give them a try.

But that night hardly mattered anymore. Because she was saying yes to those fifty years now. Or at least giving those fifty years a chance. That was all he had wanted for them. He spent his entire adult life looking for someone to spend those fifty years with. He had Rebecca. That was the closest he had ever gotten before Brennan.

What if Rebecca had said yes? Where would he be right now? He'd be tucking his little boy into bed and then going back to his own to lay with his wife. And the more Booth thought about the possibility that Rebecca could've been his wife, and more than likely still be his wife at the moment, made his realize how grateful he was right now that she said no all those years ago. True, Parker deserved to have two parents who lived together, but in comparison to Brennan's broken home, Parker's situation was nothing. Rebecca had said no so Brennan could say yes.

The kiss stayed slow, gentle, but Booth's fiery passion took over and their kiss soon became a frantic, teenage-esque make out session, the idea of exploring each other's bodies extremely enticing. Booth remembered what she had said just a few minutes ago and pulled away from the love of his life. She looked at him with analytic eyes but said nothing.

"Slow," he said breathily, "we're going to take things slowly." He kissed Brennan softly.

She nodded and they moved back to their previous positions on the couch.

"Bren, I love you."

"I know."


	3. Chapter 3

She sighed. "I can't say that back yet. I wish I could. You deserve to hear it. But…I can't. I need more evidence."

Booth nodded. "Don't worry, Bones. You'll say it when you're ready. I know you love me even if you can't say it. I can tell."

Brennan chuckled. "How can you tell?" She moved just a tad closer to him, needing to feel the warmth of his body.

Booth looked at her and pulled her back to relax against his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I can tell by the way you talk to me or look at me. They way we touch is, you know, like magic."

"There's no such thing as-" Brennan started to say but Booth cut her off.

"With us, there is. Wanna know what it is?" Booth prompted.

Brennan nodded.

"It's that pang I get in my chest when you touch me. Or that look in your eyes when you laugh at my lame jokes," Booth told her.

"Booth, if you're feeling tightness in your chest or a pang or whatever, you need to get checked out! You could be at risk for a heart attack!"

Booth pressed another kiss to her head. "Not that kind of pain or anything. It's nothing medical. It's that…spark we have."

She nodded again, beginning to catch onto all of the metaphors Booth was using.

"So when I feel a rush of hormones when you're around, or when I see your name on my phone, that's our…spark?" Brennan asked, attempting to follow what Booth was getting at.

"Yeah, Bones! That's exactly it. That's how you know you really love someone."

"Oh, so then we can conclude that I am in love with you?"

Booth considered how to respond to this. Telling her yes could send her to a place she wasn't ready for yet. He desperately wanted to hear those three words come from her lips but he wasn't going to do something that could drastically alter the future of their relationship. Telling her no could give her the wrong idea about what she is feeling. Trying to teach someone about love was like trying to teach a dog to walk on four legs, nearly impossible.

"Well…yeah," he said, "But just think about it, okay? Just take your time to know what you're really feeling. I'll wait for you. I'll wait forever if I have to."

Brennan turned to face him. She studied his face. Since becoming partners with Booth, she had gained a set of skills she had failed to learn before knowing him. She could read facial expressions and body language now better than she would've been able to six years ago. She determined that he was hopeful, his faith, in both her and his God, holding him together.

"Well, I have come to the reasonable, rational conclusion that I am in love with you. Despite what I had said earlier, I think I can say I love you without being afraid of the consequences."

Booth pulled her into a kiss, a hot, passionate kiss, in order to respond to her findings.

"I love you, Bren," Booth whispered.

"I love you too, Seeley."

"Don't call me that."

"Yeah…that didn't sound right."

* * *

**A/N: So I think I'm done with this story. This seems like a good place to end it and I'm fresh out of ideas for it. I'm really going to focus on my other in-progress story and I have an idea for a post season 5 finale fic. I don't just want to be another one on the post finale bandwagon but I'm going to take a different view from other fics I've read based on the aftermath of the finale. Obviously, there's no way I can read all of the post finale stories so hopefully I don't duplicate plot lines or anything. Those will be up once I've developed them more. Anyway, let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

On Monday at work, Brennan and Angela were sitting in the artist's office. Angela was making the both of them coffee and chatting about their weekends.

"Okay, sweetie, now that you've heard all the dirt on my weekend with Chris the kinky insurance adjuster, you need to tell me what happened with Studly," she said, wagging her eyebrows.

"Nothing happened, Ange," Brennan said, sure of herself.

"Something did! You two were out of that restaurant Friday night faster than Forrest Gump can run."

"Who?" Brennan asked, not understanding the movie reference.

"Nevermind. Sweetie, what did he say to you that made you to leave so quickly?"

Brennan shrugged. "He asked me to marry him," she said, as if it were no big deal.

Angela's jaw dropped. "He did what? Sweetie! What did you say?"

"I told him no, of course. I don't believe in marriage. But we have decided to take a slow start to our relationship."

"Oh my god! Bren! This is huge! Why didn't you say anything to me before? Or answer your phone when I called you?"

Again, Brennan shrugged. "I just told you. It's not that big of a deal."

Angela waved her off as Booth walked in looking for Brennan.

"Hey, Bren, come on, we gotta go. There's a body waiting for you just outside of town. Let's go," he said.

Brennan happily left Angela's office to get her coat. As she passed by Booth, she gave him a peck on the cheek and he blushed.

Angela stood facing him, arms crossed, foot tapping.

"What?" he asked.

"Hurt her and you deal with me. And my dad," she snapped. Booth paled at the thought. He knew how terrified Hodgins was of her father and the former sniper thought he should at least be a little afraid.

XXXXXXXXXXX

At the end of the day, Brennan and Booth were in her office, she typing away at her computer and he scribbling down notes into a file. Flipping the folder shut he said, "Bren, you should go home. You look exhausted."

She looked insulted at the comment and he attempted to correct himself.

"Sorry, Bren. I'm tired so I'm sure you are, too. Let me take you home. Come on, Bren," Booth said, gesturing toward the door.

"Wait," Brennan stopped him, "you haven't called me Bones all day."

Booth looked at her and thought for a moment. "No," he sighed, "I haven't."

"Why?"

"I thought you hated it. You used to, anyway."

Brennan shrugged. "Not anymore. I like it now. It's quite…charming," she told him with a crooked grin on her face.

"Oh, well, I'll start calling you Bones again. Come on, let's go."

She looked him over and he seemed to become nervous.

"Come on, Bren! Hustle!" Booth shouted.

"You just called me Bren again," she observed.

"So?" Booth shrugged.

"I would like to know why."

He sighed and she seemed concerned. Booth began to fiddle with is tie, one of his few nervous habits she evoked.

"You, uh…remember that time…I had, you know…that tumor?" he whispered, tugging at his ever-tightening shirt collar.

Brennan was confused. "Of course, everyone remembers that," she reasoned.

"Well…in that little coma dream I had, I didn't call you Bones. I called you Bren."

"Oh, well I don't mind that you call me that. It was just odd to me."

Booth was surprisingly relieved. "Oh, that's it?"

Brennan nodded. "I like either nickname. I respond to either so it doesn't matter what you call me but since you've called me Bones for the past five or six years, I was kind of confused," she told him.

Booth smiled at her. "Let's go home, Bren. I'm tired." She smiled back, realizing the significance behind her new name. It was one of love and affection, something she had quietly desired her whole life.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**A/N: I'm doing one more chapter in this to knock it out and then I'm focusing on my other stories. I may do a re-write of Centripetal Force plus an alternate ending to The Woman on the Bench plus continuing Long Nights. So, there were a few shameless plugs for my other stories. I don't care. I'm not afraid to tell you guys to read them. If you don't, I'm not going to know who does and doesn't so whatever. Just an update on my future updates :) Hope you all liked this! Let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Warning...not really...but there is some major fluff in this chapter. I've been uber depressed since the finale and I've been going on a fluff splurge. If I can't have them together on the actual show, then this is where I'm going to get it! So, some super fluffy stuff is ahead. But, this is the last chapter for this story. As always, let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**6 months later**

"Can I help you find anything, sir?"

Booth let out a big sigh and looked up at the saleswoman.

"Can I take a look at that one?" Booth asked, pointing to an object in the display case.

"Wonderful choice, sir. That's a platinum band with an emerald-cut diamond," the saleswoman told him.

"Dad, Dr. Bones'll love it!" Parker shouted.

Booth looked down at his son. "You're sure, Park? You really think she'll like it?"

Parker nodded vigorously. "She'd love whatever you give her. I just like that one the best. It's pretty but simple. You know Bones likes simple."

Booth smiled at his son and nodded. "You're right, Parker." He nodded to the saleswoman and she boxed up the ring for Booth to pocket.

The Booth boys exited the store and discussed ways on how Booth was going to propose.

"Should I just flat out ask her? She likes being direct you know," Booth told Parker.

"I know! But maybe you should do my idea. All girls, even Bones, like that romantic stuff," Parker informed him.

Booth laughed at his son's insights. He may only be eight years old but he sure knew what he was talking about when it came to women. He was definitely a Booth.

XXXXXXXXXX

Brennan woke up the next Saturday morning alone. It was strange now. Booth had moved in almost two months ago and she always woke up next to him. Rolling over, she found a note on his pillow.

_Bones,_

_Parker and I went for a jog. We'll meet you at the Jeffersonian for lunch. Parker wants to go to Sid's. _

_See you soon. _

_Love you,_

_Booth (and Parker)_

She grinned. It was fantastic having Parker here on Booth's weekends with him. They had converted the guest bedroom into Parker's room and it was wonderful knowing the boy was right down the hall. Brennan loved him like he was her own and Booth loved that.

Brennan took her time and made it to the Jeffersonian just before ten that morning. She knew she could get some paperwork done while she waited for Booth and Parker to pick her up.

She entered the lab and marveled at the silence in the normally noisy lab. She was oddly unobservant that morning, however, not spotting her partner and boyfriend and his son watching her from Angela's office.

Brennan saw something was different in her office when she was approaching. The door was already propped open. She made a habit of locking it when she left for the night. Brennan looked around her again, looking for any signs of life in the empty lab. She walked slowly to the door and peeked into her office. There vases of daisies and daffodils covering every tabletop surface in her office.

Brennan grinned widely and upon seeing it, Parker gave Booth a quiet high-five.

She entered her office and it smelled of the fresh flowers.

But something else was out of place. The fully articulated skeleton she normally had on its stand in the corner of her office was sitting in her chair, facing the computer, hands on the keyboard.

She chuckled at this, knowing this had to have been one, or both, of the Booth boys she was now living with.

Brennan set her bag down and went to move the skeleton to the couch, planning to move it back to the stand later. But she noticed there was something different about the skeleton Parker had so humorously named Gretzky.

There was the ring, perched on the left proximal phalanx of the fourth finger, the ring finger. Brennan slipped the ring off the model skeleton and stared at it intensely. The more time she spent with Booth, the more she realized how serious he was about never leaving her and how marriage could be a good thing, despite the anthropological reasons why humans weren't meant to be with just one person for the rest of their lives.

She spun around, on a mission to find where Booth was hiding in the lab, but stopped short when she saw someone in the doorway.

Brennan was a bit surprised to see Parker standing there instead of Booth.

"So now do you believe him?" Parker asked. "I mean, he told me about the first time he asked you to marry him and you said no. And I get it. But now…I mean, come on, Bones!" Parker ran to her and wrapped his arms around her legs and asked, "Please?"

"Yeah, please?"

She looked up and saw Booth where Parker had been standing before. He looked calm, but quietly his heart had been racing.

Brennan looked up at him, then back down to Parker.

"Is it okay with you if I marry your dad?" Brennan asked the boy. Parker hugged her tighter. "Duh, Bones, I was the one who picked out the ring, so, yeah!" he said, like it should've been obvious to her.

Brennan looked back up to Booth. He nodded, indicating his son's truth. Brennan smiled at him and he returned it with a grin of his own.

"Dad, I think you're supposed to actually ask now," Parker prompted.

"Marry me," Booth blurted out, hardly acknowledging what his son had told him.

Parker and Booth smiled as she nodded and hugged him, Parker still clinging to her legs.

Booth kissed her, causing a loud 'EWWW' from Parker. Booth barely moved from her, resting his forehead on hers as he helped her slide the ring on her finger.

"You are awfully clever, Parker. I bet this was your idea, not your dad's," Brennan said, still looking at Booth but speaking to her future stepson.

He nodded happily. "Except the flower thing. That was his idea," he told Brennan. "Can you guys, you know, let go now? I'm hungry. Can I have a milkshake?"

Booth laughed. "I don't know, what do you think, Bones?"

She laughed too.

"Please, Mom?"

Brennan and Booth stopped laughing when they heard Parker address her like that. Booth nervously looked to her for a response.

But she just smiled. "Only if you share with me."


End file.
